1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is generally vending machines particularly anomalous check-controlled apparatus (Class 194, Subclass 4C).
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous vending machines in the prior art for receiving fabric-like articles such as shop towels and dispensing same so that it is necessary to place a dirty towel in the machine in order to receive the clean towel in return. Such machines are very advantageous in factories and shops where large quantities of shop towels are being used daily. U.S. Pat. 3,794,148 discloses such a machine which employs a measuring section or unit in which a chain with towel pickups elongates the towel beneath the measuring wheel to rotate a gear arrangement. This particular mechanism has been changed in the present apparatus in order to provide a different apparatus employing an elongated measuring chain driven by a sprocket to elongate a coil spring to inspect the input towel and to return the mechanism to proper initial position each time. In the aforementioned patent there is a delivery section which employs a shedding or towel separation apparatus which like the present shedding apparatus picks up towels continuously from a pile and this arrangement has been changed and revised somewhat in order to provide a lower towel feed belt operated from an eccentric and ratchet arrangement so that towels are picked up from a conveyor continuously and delivered to a shedding or towel separation arrangement which employs a transfer belt, discharge roll, transfer roll and the transfer roll is provided with a reverse card cloth arrangement to hold a second towel back to stop double delivery. Thus, a different way has been found from that disclosed in the aforementioned patent to inspect the input towel and also a variation in the way that towels are picked up from a stack, separated and moved so that only one towel is dispensed from the machine. This tends to make the machine cheat-proof and to reduce the likelihood or possibility that something other than a shop towel, such as newspaper or the like can be inserted or that more than one towel can be obtained for each towel inserted.